Poll

Today's Opinions

It's almost time for the baseball A-Star game and we're still waiting for the basketball championships to be over. That's great for basketball fans who, I'm sure, would like to see it year round. But for the rest of us who like sports seasons, these extended season are getting on my nerves.

Leon said you couldn’t truly qualify to graduate unless you had passed the “initiation” test. “They can give you the paper but it won’t mean a thing unless you can prove you are ready,” is exactly how he put it. He was the oldest brother and naturally a lot more worldly than the rest of us.

Listen guys, I got the break of the century this past week. My wife quit teaching! After 35 years, she retired. I was never so happy in my life. You have no idea what I have had to live through.

She taught fifth grade for years. I would sit down at the dinner table after a long day ready to just relax and eat my peas and cornbread in the solace of my own home. “I’m worried about Johnny. He’s falling behind in math. I’ve tried to help him after school but he seems distracted.”

I don't see anything wrong with the proposed youth protection ordinance. In essence, the ordinance calls for a curfew and does not allow minors (people under 17 years old who have not been emancipated) to hang out between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The ordinance is partially the result of citizen complaints about kids roaming the streets at night, fighting and loitering around businesses. Police chief Ferman Richardson said the ordinance is also intended to protect minors from victimization and criminal activity as well as promote parental control and responsibility.

I discovered the wonderful month of June when I was 7 years old. We finished cutting out George and Abe’s heads in Miss Carolyn Blades’ first grade class in the middle of February. That was OK. But March must not have been a good month for presidents. We just did arithmetic and reading, and every Friday we lined up for those gosh-awful spelling contests. May was no better and it began to get insufferably hot in that small class room.

I was thinking the other day about how different my life would have been had my mom not married my stepfather.

What is a stepfather anyway? It’s just a new dad...not a replacement for the old one. Maybe, more like a supplement or an enhancement to the previous situation.

Whatever.

But in my case, my mother, my brother and myself were just getting by. Being a single mom is not an easy task, and it’s even harder when your “ex” is no help whatsoever. I can’t imagine what my mom dealt with on a daily basis.